The next Atom Bomb or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Quantum Computer

The race is on! Every major power all around the world is working around the clock on one. Be it Vladimir Putin’s Russia or humble online book merchant Jeff Bezos’ Amazon.com. The nation- or corporation- that first invents it will have an unprecedented level of power over all the others, great and small. The type of asymmetrical advantage and technological domination not seen in warfare since the United States invented the atom bomb. Indeed, its creation will in a way render nuclear war itself an anachronism, a rustic reminder of a bygone era. The McGuffin, this super-weapon is of course the world’s first true quantum computer.

This device, once only a figment of a mathematical physicist's imagination, will grant its inventor the ability to crack every modern encryption method, hack any computer, and crack the Bitcoin blockchain. It will allow the takeover of stock markets and the manipulation of interest rates. The mass manipulation of traffic signals anywhere in the world, bringing any of the world’s greatest cities to a grinding hault. Major infrastructure such as dams made to release their flood water. Air conditioning systems in data centers shut down. Nuclear ballistic submarines made to fire on their own nations. Dogs and cats, living together, mass hysteria. In short, in a world now utterly reliant on computers, a weaponized quantum computer system will in effect allow its benefactor to rule the world and dictate the terms of absolute and unconditional surrender to all.

A nation- or corporation- able to hack every other nation on Earth will be a new breed of superpower. 21st Century Full Spectrum Dominance will have been achieved. As the A-bomb was to nighttime carpet bombing by B-17s over Hamburg, so too will a viable quantum computer be to global thermonuclear war.

A quick rundown on quantum computing

So when can the world first expect to see this marvelous monstrous machination of man, this terrible titan of terror? Although early simulators of quantum computers, such as the D-Wave, have in recent years been created, these are more like rudimentary stepping stones to the creation of a true and functional quantum computer that can be deployed and utilized on a large scale. The current model D-Wave for example has trouble carrying out some simple types of calculations that even a standard consumer laptop can do.

In terms of the timeline for a true weaponize-able, conventional quantum computer, estimates vary widely, with experts giving ranges anywhere from ‘the Government already invented it at Area 51 and is keeping it under wraps’ to ‘Google is only a few years away’! to ‘its a wild goose chase like fusion energy which could take another 100 years with the current growth rate of technology’. There is no complete consensus on a firm date for its creation. The bottom line is however, as it is with most great human endeavors, including the invention of the nuclear bomb itself: the more resources that are dedicated towards an end, the sooner it shall be. If you invest in a Manhattan Project, it will come.

Which is what has become so very intriguing as of late. The fact that so many resources are now being poured into its creation is a strong indicator that many of those currently holding the reins of power have begun to have a realization. That not the F35; not another anti-ICBM system; and certainly not the new Ford-class aircraft carriers. No, that it will be the quantum computer that is poised to be the world’s next paradigm-shifting superweapon.

What do you think? Should quantum computing be made a top priority due to its potential impacts on national security , or should it simply be left to the nerds to tinker around with as a mere curiosity?